The Booker and Sunshine Awards

Rosalind Adam and Mina Lobo have both paased the Booker Award to me. I now get to tell you about my favourite books...

This won't be a shock, because I often talk about my favourite books, but here goes...

Pride and Prejudice - Admit it, you didn't expect that one, did you?

Diary by Chuck Palanhuick - It's one of those books I just keep going back and re-reading. A woman is trapped in a loveless marriage, with a child that doesn't seem to like her much, and an overbearing mother-in-law. Seems quite a normal literary situation, doesn't it? But all is not what it seems!

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - This is a very happy and uplifting book, which gives a new take on Heaven. At the end, I just felt really happy and uplifted!

The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier - I'm not keen on her novels, but her short stories are divine and beautiful, rich and fulfilling... in fact everything I'd like to be as a writer.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Read it, if you haven't done already... just read it. A great story, a great way of really understanding the plight of Jews during Nazi Germany.

Next Rebecca Bradley has awarded me the Sunshine Award. I've been given this one before, so I'm not going to answer the questions - sorry Rebecca, but thank you for thinking of me. You'll recognise Rebecca's name from my last post, so if you haven't visited her yet, now's your chance!

You'll also notice I haven't, as usual, passed either of these awards on to anyone else. If you'd like to tell me about your favourite books, I'd love to read about them. And everyone deserves the Sunshine Award because your blogs cheer me up. Yes, I'm talking to you right now!

Z is for The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Link to Goodreads

Apart from being a fantastic story, this book stood out for me because it's narrated by Death. As a result the viewpoint is pretty much omnipotent. Done badly, using an unexpected narrator can either be a gimmick or a mistake. But done well, like in The Book Thief, it makes the story very special and memorable.

I've recently completed a story narrated by a ghost. Now, I'm actually foolish enough not to pay attention to rules or conventions, so I'd probably have always written that particular story in that way; but it's reassuring to know that non-conventional narrators are accepted - and can really add something to the way a story is told.

The Book Thief takes the very serious and important issue of Nazi Germany and weaves a wonderfully poignant and sad story amongst the plight of the Jewish people. I cried, several times. Whatever I say here won't do the novel justice - I'm not a great reviewer - but I highly recommend this book to everyone.

And this brief post concludes the A-Z Challenge. I'm not sure how to finish - it's been lots of fun and I've discovered some great new bloggers, but I'm also a little bit glad I'll be able to get back to normal. My laptop could do with some down-time.

Thank you to everyone who's stopped by or followed me this month.

If you've followed me during the course of the challenge, and I haven't yet followed you back, please comment and let me know - it was just an oversight and easily rectified! I'm looking forward to getting to know you all in the coming weeks and months.